Totally Worth It, page 5
Chapter Six
Meg was thankful she’d grabbed a zippered hoodie on the way out of her house. Sitting in Jesse’s backyard, she could feel the breeze coming in off the water that lay just below the bluffs at the edge of the development. It had been gorgeous and warm during the afternoon festival, but since the sun had set, it was a little cold. At least the heat from the fire pit was helping warm her up.
She had gone to Jesse’s pre-party completely unsure what to expect, and she found herself surprised by the intimacy of such a small gathering. Four other women sat in deck chairs carefully arranged around the fire—Rose and Teddy, who were a couple, and Betsy and Mia, who didn’t appear to be. Right away Meg was intrigued by the makeup of this group. Rose and Teddy looked to be in their late forties, maybe even early fifties. Jesse and Betsy hovered in their thirties somewhere. But Mia, with her short platinum-blond hair and trendy tough-girl style, was right about Meg’s age.
Taking one of the two empty chairs, Meg sat down as Jesse handed her a beer. She pushed against the backrest and clutched her drink as she tried not to appear too self-conscious. She was way too nervous to contribute to the conversation, so she simply sat back and absorbed it all, making a conscious effort to look relaxed and normal. As she listened, she learned that Mia was a young cop who had a story for everything; Betsy was a doctor, an obstetrician to be precise. This seemed to elicit endless ribbing from pretty much everyone.
She also found out that Rose and Teddy were what Bay West residents referred to as holdovers because they had both lived in the development when it was still simply a women’s community, prior to becoming a place exclusively for lesbians. With Meg as a captive audience, Teddy explained how the Bay West development was built by Agnes Browne, a spinster who inherited the land from her childless uncle. Apparently her goal had been to create a place where women would feel safe, so she strategically set the units off from the main thoroughfare and planted the line of trees, which, to this day, outlined the enclave like a fortress.
Teddy took a final swig from her drink and looked into the empty bottle as she finished the lesson. “When old Agnes passed, she willed the land to her great-niece, who continued the all-women theme…she just tweaked it a little,” she added with a brusque laugh.
“Mary Brown?” Meg piped up, remembering the fortysomething woman who’d accompanied her on her initial walk-through.
“Close. Kameron Browne,” Teddy corrected her.
“They’re a couple, right?” Meg knew the answer but asked anyway. Lexi had already told her that Aunt Kam and Aunt Mary, as she called them, were her godparents and her mothers’ closest friends.
Rose answered, “Yeah. They actually have the same last name, like, originally. Except one’s with an e and the other isn’t. I can never remember which is which. Who’s who, baby?” She patted Teddy’s forearm.
“Mary is just Brown, like the color. No e,” Jesse said quietly, without lifting her head, as she seemed to be studying the label of her beer bottle.
There was an exceptionally long pause.
“Anyway,” Teddy continued in her lyrical voice, traces of her Dominican accent coming through on every word, “Kam has spent nearly the last thirty years making this place what it is today.” She looked around for emphasis. “I mean, she may be a bitch on wheels, but she deserves some credit for what she’s done.” She laughed heartily again. “Pretty interesting, huh?”
“Definitely.” Meg nodded as she said it. And it was interesting. But just as interesting to Meg was the fact that Mia had been checking her out through the whole story.
Now that Meg had engaged in the conversation, the floodgates opened. Right away the focus shifted to her. Rose and Teddy did most of the questioning, but the others chimed in too. Mostly they wanted to know where she was from and how she ended up at Bay West. They were all genuinely surprised to find out that she grew up in Staten Island but had never been to, or even heard of, Bay West before checking out her house as sort of a fluke.
“I know,” she confessed. “Apparently I’m the only one. After I moved in, I was trying to explain it to my friend Tracy, who lives out in California now, but grew up on the Island. And I was giving all these particulars about where it is and doing a whole buildup until she was like, Do you mean Bay West?” Meg let out a laugh at herself and the other women laughed along with her. “I literally almost dropped the phone. She’s been making fun of me since. She’s even been to parties here.” She took a quick swallow of her drink before adding, “Plus there’s my Realtor, and I’m pretty sure she’s not even gay. So really”—Meg pointed at herself mockingly—“the only one.”
They all laughed again. They were an easy group to talk to. Feeling confident that for a change she hadn’t said anything embarrassing, she walked over to the cooler to grab another drink and checked her phone at the same time. It was nine thirty and they were still in Jesse’s yard.
Lexi had been texting for the last hour checking her status. With each message, she dropped more bait. The first text made a point of mentioning that several of Julie’s Jersey friends were adorable. The most recent informed that they were all staying over: Wink. Wink. Meg smirked as she read it.
“What’s funny?” Meg felt Mia’s lanky presence as she sidled up to Meg’s side and pretended to look over her shoulder at the phone.
“Nothing. My friend is just…making fun of me.” Meg flashed a look up at Mia’s cool blue eyes but couldn’t hold the stare. She quickly checked out Mia’s well-worn motorcycle boots, then reestablished eye contact, realizing only then that Mia was probably six feet tall.
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” Mia bent down and grabbed two beers from the cooler, keeping her eyes locked on Meg the whole time. “Here.” She twisted off the top and handed it to Meg.
“Thanks.”
Meg stood there for a second not saying anything, until Mia pressed her again. “So, your friend? The texts? What’s up?”
“Oh, right.” Meg snapped out of her cloud. “She just wants to know when I’m getting to the social.”
Mia nodded. “We’ll probably head over in a few minutes. It usually doesn’t get crowded till after ten anyway. Jesse hates being there when it’s too empty.”
Meg was riveted by Mia’s throaty voice. It sounded like she’d been smoking since the age of three. Meg hoped she never stopped. “Have you been to a lot of the parties here?” Meg knew from the intros that Mia didn’t live at Bay West, but not much more than that.
“Yeah. A few. But I only go if someone invites me,” she said with the slightest hint in her voice as she smiled. The way Mia half smiled and cocked her head to one side, Meg thought she was being flirted with—she was so out of practice, it was hard to be sure. But then Mia nodded her chin and added smoothly, “So, your friend. Are we talking friend-friend or girlfriend?” There was no mistaking that.
“Just a friend.” Meg used every fiber of her being to sound casual.
“How come?”
Meg was totally taken aback by Mia’s boldness. She had no idea how to respond to the question, but luckily she was spared anyway. Mia looked past Meg before she could answer and said, “Yep, here comes the boss now. Guess we’re getting ready to go. To be continued.” Mia tossed her head back, downing her beer as Jesse approached them.
*
They walked the short distance to the Commons in pairs. Rose and Teddy strolled hand in hand, while Betsy and Mia traipsed side by side a few feet behind them. Meg ended up bringing up the rear with Jesse, watching Mia strut a few feet in front of her.
Halfway down the block, Jesse interrupted Meg’s stare. “So, everyone was nice to you, right?” Jesse asked as they walked through the crisp night.
“Your friends are great. Thanks for including me.”
“Rose and Teddy gave you the third degree, huh? I should have warned you about that. Or I could have stopped them, I guess,” Jesse added as an afterthought. “But, alas, I was curious about you too, so I just let them do the dirty work for me,” she said with a smile.
“Typical lawyer.”
“Ouch.” Jesse covered her heart with both hands in mock pain. “Hey, how did you—”
“My friend—my next door neighbor, actually—works for you. Lexi Russo.”
“Oh, right. Of course.” There was an extended pause before Jesse added, “So you two are friends.”
“Besides you, she’s basically the only person I’ve met here. She’ll be here tonight.” There was another long silence. When Jesse didn’t say anything, Meg went out on a limb. “Is that weird for you? You know, to be at this party with your coworker or intern or whatever?”
Jesse didn’t answer right away, she just let out a sigh. Meg saw the cold breath as it hit the air. Jesse looked like she might say something more, but then changed her mind, simply shaking her head. “It’s fine.” But in the silence that hung between them, Meg felt like it was perhaps not fine at all. She was dying to know what the story was there but could tell by Jesse’s tone that this topic was closed. Meg moved on.
“So, how long have Rose and Teddy been together?”
“A long time. Almost thirty years, I guess. They’re gonna try to hook you up with Teddy’s cousin.”
“What?” Meg was astonished.
“I heard them conspiring when you were talking to Mia. They love playing matchmaker, those two.” Jesse shook her head, a half grin spreading across her face. “I’m sure they’ll mention it to you later. See that, I’m giving you a heads-up. Redeeming myself.”
“Thank you for that.” Meg nodded for effect. Then pointing her chin at Betsy and Mia who were still ahead of them, Meg tried for casual. “And what about those two, what’s up with them?”
Jesse looked from Betsy and Mia to Meg, a question in her eyes. “Betsy and Mia?”
“They’re not together, right?” Suave or subtle, Meg was neither.
“No. Definitely not. Mia’s mother and Betsy’s mother used to work together.” Jesse shook her head. “Betsy’s like a big sister for Mia. See, Mia came out to her mother in high school, and her mom totally freaked out about it.” She waved her hand as she explained. “Not in the typical way. Her mom was actually fine with it, real supportive.” She ran a hand through her disheveled short brown hair and Meg watched it fall perfectly in place. “It was more that her mom didn’t know what to do. Her parents are divorced. I guess her dad was no help at all. Mia’s mother was afraid she wouldn’t do the right thing. Whatever that is.” Jesse crunched a leaf under her foot as she walked. “Even though Betsy’s only a few years older than Mia, her mom asked if Betsy would take Mia under her wing.” She squinted a little as she reflected on it. “I think Betsy was the only gay person Mia’s mom knew existed, and at the time, Mia was having a really hard time. Hard to believe, she’s so cocky now.”
“Oh.” Meg hoped her excitement didn’t show in her voice.
“Just be careful, Meg.”
“What do you mean?” Meg said innocently.
Jesse tilted her head and raised her eyebrows giving Meg a knowing look. “Look, Mia’s all right. But she’s kind of a player. And you, Megan McTiernan, are not.” Jesse’s tone was light, but it was clear she meant it. “Hey, I mean that in a good way. You’re a nice girl. I can tell. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” Jesse threw her arm around Meg’s shoulders. “Just some friendly advice. Feel free to completely ignore it.”
*
The line to get in was short, so Jesse and Meg waited with the rest of their party instead of cutting ahead as residents. They still had to show their ID cards—a formality Meg thought was especially odd since the door was being worked by Lexi’s moms, Chris and Marnie, whom Meg saw in passing almost every day. After checking her card, Marnie pulled Meg aside and informed her that she was to come for Sunday dinner the next day, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Kameron and Mary Brown(e) were also at the door checking resident cards and collecting the cover charge. The exchange between Kameron and Jesse was as tense as it had been on her front lawn weeks ago, only now Kam’s animosity seemed to have spread to include Meg, as Kam snatched their money and ushered them in without a word.
As soon as they were inside, Jesse grabbed one of the last high-top tables, off to the side. There were only two tall stools at it, but it was perfect for putting their stuff down, and it gave them a rallying point for the rest of the night. It was right up against the wall next to the dance floor, and it was a great spot from which to see the whole room.
Meg had been in this building once before, the day she met with the condo board before officially moving in. Once it was clear that Meg had made the cut she was shown all the amenities, and Kam Browne had mentioned, almost in passing, that the development hosted community parties there a few times a year.
As Meg surveyed the room now, she realized that comment might have been the understatement of the year.
The place was completely transformed.
The overhead lights were turned down low, and the room was illuminated by strands of tiny white lights that edged the room and bordered each of the two full bars, giving the place a warm and festive feel. Tables of varying sizes littered the space and were filled to capacity. The DJ was set up on a small stage in the corner, cranking out music. Several people were already on the dance floor, breaking it down under the colorful strobes. This place was The Kitchen on steroids. Meg suddenly realized that she was in the biggest lesbian club in the city. In her own backyard.
She caught a glimpse of Lexi at a table across the room. She was about to walk over to her when she felt a hand on her lower back and heard Mia’s unmistakable voice from behind her.
“I’m going to the bar. Want a drink?” Meg only had to turn slightly and Mia’s face was inches from her own. Meg forcibly redirected her stare from Mia’s lips to her eyes, which were really no less disconcerting.
“Yeah. Sure.” She fished in her pocket for money, but was quickly waved off. “I’m just going to run over and say hi to my friends.” Meg nodded in Lexi’s general direction, trying desperately to sound indifferent.
“Okay. Meet you back here in a few.” Annoyingly, Mia didn’t even have to try.
After making her way through the thickening crowd, Meg slid onto the open chair between Lexi and Sam. “Is this seat taken?” she joked, nudging both girls with her elbows simultaneously.
“Hey, girl. I was just going to send out a search party.” Lexi smiled, leaning over to give Meg a quick hug.
“I know. Sorry. I wanted to come sooner, but I couldn’t really say anything, you know? Hey, I saw your parents at the door, by the way. They invited me for dinner tomorrow.”
“Oh my God, they’re obsessed with you. They talk about you incessantly.”
“What?” Meg laughed out her response.
“Be prepared, they’re going to ask you a million questions. Trust me, nothing is sacred. You have to promise not to hold it against me,” Lexi joked.
“It’ll be fine. They’re sweet.”
“Anyway, more importantly, I’m glad you’re finally here. I want to introduce you to Julie’s friends.”
Meg sat back in her chair and spoke in a low voice trying not to seem too excited. “Actually, I kind of have some weird flirty thing going on with one of Jesse’s friends. At least I think we’re flirting—I mean, it could just be my imagination. I’ve never really been good at reading people. Take my entire last relationship, for example.” She said it in an attempt at self-deprecation, but it came out sharp and bitter. And she knew it wasn’t true. She was actually good at judging both people and situations. She had known long before it officially ended that her relationship with Becca was over. She just hadn’t wanted to admit it.
“Which one is she? Point her out,” Lexi asked as she and Sam both turned around to look. But the crowd was too dense to see more than a few feet in any direction.
“She’s around here somewhere.” Meg stretched her neck as she gripped the back of her chair. “Anyway, she’s kind of hot, in that bad-girl sort of way. I should head back over there, she’s grabbing drinks for us.” Meg gestured toward Julie who was deftly maneuvering the crowd without spilling the drinks she was carrying. “Oh, perfect timing, here comes your girlfriend, she can have her seat back.” She stood. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Or come over to us. We’re set up at one of the tall tables near the wall.”
*
Meg spent the entire night like this, shuttling between the two groups. Because of that, she never got into a real rhythm with either one. She tried a few times to get the groups to merge, but it never happened, and she never got to talk to any of Julie’s friends, although she did meet two of them in passing. They were cute. But she was already preoccupied with Mia.
But that was the other problem. With all of the back and forth, she hardly saw Mia the rest of the night. It seemed like every time she came back from Lexi’s group, Mia was either up at the bar, on the dance floor, or talking to other people. One thing was obvious—she was never alone.
As she made her way around the room throughout the night, she saw several people she recognized from her new neighborhood. She talked to Jesse quite a bit, and Meg found she had a real rapport with her. And she got to know Betsy a little too, who was a bit shy and guarded but from time to time came out with hilarious one-liners. She even allowed herself to be cornered by Rose and Teddy as they talked up Teddy’s cousin. They were so endearing, it was hard to disappoint them, but Meg had a firm aversion to setups and this one was no different.
By one thirty the crowd was pretty thin. Even Lexi, Julie, and Sam had called it a night. Meg was actually enjoying the quiet, finishing up her drink in the brisk night air on the balcony as she watched the trees sway in the breeze to the muffled club music behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, something drew her attention. By the time she turned, Mia was already sauntering down the corridor toward her, smirking as she flicked the butt of a cigarette over the banister.
